Lovely Living

Carats continues to be loved and spoiled. We had a visit from a fantastic horse lady/ behaviourist Catherine http://www.equinemindandbody.co.uk to help teach us a little more about why they do what they do/ body language and where and how we can use clicker training and positive reinforcement.

My boys fantastic stable/ courtyard

I spoke to her about Carats pawing, door kicking and mugging. Firstly of course he hardly displayed the behaviour during the visit but I got some good information from it. The main thing is that it probably isn't a cognitive choice for him. He doesn't think- 'OI I want your attention'. More likely its a habitual behaviour that has sat with him over the years. We can look forward to help preventing this behaviour twofold. Firstly avoidance, so if its a time I know he will paw then distract him before the behaviour begins with something like scatter feeding or his treat ball etc. If the behaviour is happening then ignoring it totally is the best tactic plus paying him attention when he isn't pawing or kicking (extinction).

We also looked at the clicker work I was doing with him and Catherine picked up on some habits I have from training my dogs that are negatively affecting C with his frustration during the session/
after. Firstly I am holding food in my hand and its easier for him if I reward from a bumbag so I have changed this, secondly I was feeding super fast as I would with the dogs, she has suggested I slow this down as it will keep the session and learning less frantic, finally he needs a clearer visual cue as to when the session starts/ ends as he gets frustrated that he isn't sure when we are and aren't training and just wants to keep going. So I now make a bigger show of putting on the treat bag/ getting clicker etc. He is super bright though and picks up new behaviours very quickly!

Generally she was very happy with it all, she thinks the setup is superb and we have lots of new training ideas for the ponies. It was a superb session and I really feel like it has helped with my understanding of my wonderful Mr C :)

Heres to lots more fun training sessions ahead!